- Joseph Burgess
Joseph Burgess (1853-1934) was a British journalist and labour politician.
He was born on
3 July 1853 inFailsworth ,Lancashire , the third of six children ofhandloom weavers, and educated at a print works school in Failsworth. He started work in acard-cutting room at the age of six and worked as acotton operative until he was 28. He married three times, having six children and died January 1934.Career
He was active in the creation of the
Independent Labour Party (ILP) and the Labour Party. He unsuccessfully ran as an ILP parliamentary candidate forLeicester in 1894 and 1895 before taking a role of organising secretary for the ILP between 1897-1902. He was a member of theGlasgow City Council between 1902-5 and unsuccessfully ran as an ILP candidate for Glasgow Camlachie in 1906, and Montrose in 1908 and 1910. He resigned from the ILP in 1915.Throughout his career he was involved in newspapers:
* 1881: correspondent for a local newspaper
* 1884: started his own short-lived paper, the "Oldham Operative"
* 1885-89: sub-editor of the "Cotton Factory Times "
* 1889-91: manager of the "Yorkshire Factory Times "
* 1891-93: editor of "Workman's Times "
* 1914: editor of the "Bradford Pioneer "
* 1919: editorial staff for the "London Evening Standard " and the "Pall Mall Gazette "Publications
* "John Burns: the rise and progress of the right honourable" (1911)
* "Homeland or Empire" (1915)
* "British agriculture versus foreign tributes" (1925)
* "WillLloyd George replaceRamsay MacDonald " (1926)Further reading
* A. T. Lane, "Biographical Dictionary of European Labor Leaders", 1995. p 164-5 ISBN 0313299005
* unpublished typescript 'Nineteenth Century Lancashire Textile Operatives Tribulations, 1800-95" held in the Labour Party Archives, London
* "A Potential Poet? His Autobiography and Verse" (1927)
* J. Burnett, D. Vincent, and D. Mayalls, eds., "The Autobiography of the Working Class", vol 1.
* Kevin McPhillips, "Joseph Burgess (1853-1934) and the Founding of the Independent Labour Party", 2005. ISBN 978-0773460683
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